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golden-face 5 hours ago [-]
Great writeup! Vividly remember this being a thing especially in multiplayer. What was that janky match matching service, MSN something?
Also a really underrated game, the mechanics (line of sight over the horizon stuff) and isometric graphics were pretty cool for the time and it had a well developed story/campaign mode.
toast0 2 hours ago [-]
I wonder if the board game materials have rules or guidance about where equipment goes? I dunno how close the computer games stick to the board game materials though.
murderfs 2 hours ago [-]
The board game has extensive rules on mech design, but for weapons, it's just wherever they'll fit. Some of the built-in hardware has fixed locations: cockpit, life support, sensors go in the head; engines go in the center torso (with light and xtralight fusion engines spilling out into the side torsos as well), arm and hand actuators go in the arms, and hip, leg, and foot actuators go in the legs. You can see this in the critical slot section in a record sheet: https://i.redd.it/jt3p2f1v14gf1.jpeg
This one definitely deviates from tabletop: pretty much everything except the smallest weapons have an integral tonnage, and the weapons themselves don't line up directly with their tabletop versions.
The newer games tend to be absolutely consistent with the mech design rules in terms of what weapons are available, and their weights and sizes, such that board game designs are legal in the game (and usually the state you get the mechs in before you customize them), and customized mechs are legal board game designs. They tend to limit the customization by doing things like having mechs have predefined hardpoints that limit what types/sizes of guns can go where, because otherwise you just end up with every mech being identical, with maximum armor and the rest of the tonnage being spent on whatever happens to be the most optimal weapon.
blobbers 3 hours ago [-]
I never played this game! I didn't realize there was a RTS after Crescent Hawk's revenge. I'm looking at the MC2 source code now... it looks like there is a Linux port, meaning could probably get it working for Apple using Fable 5, AI haters, I will challenge you to a batchall.
tangenter 5 hours ago [-]
I wish they would release MC1 source the way they did with MC2.
derac 6 hours ago [-]
This is cool, maybe "target left arm" implies that it's your left, when targetting them and you're facing each other. So, their right arm.
derac 6 hours ago [-]
Btw, I recently did my first patches with ghidra. Is there any way to avoid jumping into a code cave by shifting all the instructions up then updating any statements referring to those memory locations? Seems like it should be simple enoigh in theory, but I didn't find an implementation on a cursory search. Could probably code up a plugin pretty easily.
BobbyTables2 4 hours ago [-]
How can you be dead certain that all references are known in Ghidra?
Just non-disassembled function or unidentified struct would ruin your plans…
iamacyborg 2 hours ago [-]
Dear god I loved this game when it came out. It was hard.
protocolture 1 hours ago [-]
I remember it taking me ages to complete the demo missions. And once I had, there being tons of replay value just in the demo missions.
20k 6 hours ago [-]
Oh man this was my biggest pet peeve with mechcommander as a kid, thanks for fixing it!
pkhuong 5 hours ago [-]
If you need a compact byte -> bit lookup table on x86, consider using the memory form of the bit test (BT) instruction.
close04 1 hours ago [-]
It just hit me, in 2026, that MeshCommander [1] (the Intel AMT remote management tool) is probably a homage naming after MechCommander.
Came here excited that MeshCommander is maintained again.
(Assuming they didn't fix it themselves, it is a pretty big overhaul to MC1)
99% sure it should work fine for (Exodus and Turncoat), (X-Ray and DSC Raid), and (Xenocide and Bengal Lancers) since those are just custom campaigns.
Lovely stuff. Always a joy to see anything MechWarrior related end up here on HN.
protocolture 5 hours ago [-]
I really need to put some of these techniques to the test with Metal Fatigue.
tangenter 5 hours ago [-]
A rare gem to see someone talking about MF. I used to play lots of it with friends, our games would last for over 48 hours (we wouldn’t sleep). Different time.
protocolture 4 hours ago [-]
My games would last until whoever was hosting had the bug that kills the game due to having too many units, or running out of names for pilots.
And it was somehow still incredibly satisfying, even though there was probably just one bugger who went underground at the start and all the people who over invested in giant robots would have to play whack a mole to find him.
Also a really underrated game, the mechanics (line of sight over the horizon stuff) and isometric graphics were pretty cool for the time and it had a well developed story/campaign mode.
This one definitely deviates from tabletop: pretty much everything except the smallest weapons have an integral tonnage, and the weapons themselves don't line up directly with their tabletop versions.
The newer games tend to be absolutely consistent with the mech design rules in terms of what weapons are available, and their weights and sizes, such that board game designs are legal in the game (and usually the state you get the mechs in before you customize them), and customized mechs are legal board game designs. They tend to limit the customization by doing things like having mechs have predefined hardpoints that limit what types/sizes of guns can go where, because otherwise you just end up with every mech being identical, with maximum armor and the rest of the tonnage being spent on whatever happens to be the most optimal weapon.
Just non-disassembled function or unidentified struct would ruin your plans…
Came here excited that MeshCommander is maintained again.
[1] https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCommander
(Assuming they didn't fix it themselves, it is a pretty big overhaul to MC1)
99% sure it should work fine for (Exodus and Turncoat), (X-Ray and DSC Raid), and (Xenocide and Bengal Lancers) since those are just custom campaigns.
Lovely stuff. Always a joy to see anything MechWarrior related end up here on HN.
And it was somehow still incredibly satisfying, even though there was probably just one bugger who went underground at the start and all the people who over invested in giant robots would have to play whack a mole to find him.